Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The suspension of beef exports to China is a real blow, especially when the market had only reopened recently and was building back slowly. What is more worrying is the last time we had this same situation the suspension lasted three years and that cannot happen again. While I appreciate this is a matter for the Chinese Government, what engagement has the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine has had with the Chinese authorities and what specifically will he be doing to be proactive in ensuring the speedy reversal of this decision? Likewise, the demand for beef is really strong in our main export markets, but the supply of cattle here is tightening and beef farmers should be seeing better prices, but there remains that 30 cent gap with the export benchmark price. We need to see that gap closing to enure better prices for beef farmers again. I ask the Minister to be just as proactive in seeking to close that gap, especially given we still have a situation where many farmers are not getting a fair price for their produce consistently.

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